Outcome in Children With Standard-Risk B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of Children’s Oncology Group Trial AALL0331

Maloney KW, Devidas M, Wang C, Mattano LA, Friedmann AM, Buckley P, Borowitz MJ, Carroll AJ, Gastier-Foster JM, Heerema NA, Kadan-Lottick N, Loh ML, Matloub YH, Marshall DT, Stork LC, Raetz EA, Wood B, Hunger SP, Carroll WL, Winick NJ. Outcome in Children With Standard-Risk B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of Children’s Oncology Group Trial AALL0331. J Clin Oncol. 2020 Feb 20;38(6):602-612. doi: 10.1200/JCO.19.01086. Epub 2019 Dec 11. PubMed PMID: 31825704; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7030893.

Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL0331 tested whether intensified postinduction therapy that improves survival in children with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) would also improve outcomes for those with standard-risk (SR) ALL. AALL0331 enrolled 5,377 patients between 2005 and 2010. All patients received a 3-drug induction with dexamethasone, vincristine, and pegaspargase (PEG) and were then classified as SR low, SR average, or SR high. Patients with SR-average disease were randomly assigned to receive either standard 4-week consolidation (SC) or 8-week intensified augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) consolidation (IC). Those with SR-high disease were nonrandomly assigned to the full COG-augmented BFM regimen, including 2 interim maintenance and delayed intensification phases.